The Natya Sastra of Bharata Muni

Drama had its earliest beginnings in the corporate life of the village. The villagers had to undertake the communal task of ploughing, reaping and harvesting and clearing the wasteland. This pattern of work and the survival of the community were determined by cycles of cultivation and change of seasons. And this in turn expressed itself in rituals that fed into mythologies. The rituals were performed as types of worship that both ensured the continuity of the cycles and acknowledged its significance. As community activities these rituals did not require texts, so that many folk plays survived as mimetic actions alone. It was only much later that they were re inscribed into texts as rationalization for performances that may have taken place. Classical Sanskrit theatre reached its boom during the first nine centuries: (BCE). It was Sanskrit grammarian Panini who brought to fore the aphorisms on acting. Kautilya's book on statesmanship the Artha-shastra (4th century bce) depicted allusions to actors, dancers, theatrical companies and academies. Beyond this, the form, style and classical structure of aesthetic acting were consolidated in Bharata Muni's treatise on dramaturgy, Natya- shastra. Bharata defined drama as... Mimicry of the actions and conduct of people, rich in various emotions, and depicting different situations; this relates to actions of men as good, bad and indifferent and gives courage, amusement, happiness, and advice to all of them.

Bharata slotted drama in 10 types. The two most important ones are: nataka (heroic) and prakarana (social). Nataka deals with eulogy and gallant themes of gods and kings and draws its roots from epical history or mythology, namely, Kalidasa's Shakuntala and Bhavabhuti's Uttararamacharita. Unlike Nataka, Prakarana creates a plot that deals with ordinary mortals, such as a courtesan; one such important work is Shudraka's Mrichchakatika. Most of the then plays unfolded between 1 and 10 acts. There were many one-act plays.